Tales of Love and Dyingby Sherry Kauppi

Copper Harbor in the spring when the ice on Lake Superior was in the process of melting. Photo courtesy of Pasty.com.

I grew up with Sherry Kauppi, the author of the book Tales of Love and Dying. She, her younger sister, and I hung around together in the little town of Copper Harbor, Michigan, where our parents operated businesses. When we were released from our duties of cleaning and tending the gift shops, we would meet up at one of the docks at the Harbor for some swimming.

Copper Harbor sits up at the tip of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where it meets the shores of Lake Superior. My sister likes to say that we have “ice water in our veins.” In other words, that lake is cold! It takes a hearty soul to jump straight in without dabbling a toe in first to get used to the water temperature. In recent years the lake has warmed up significantly, but when we were growing up, we loved to shock the tourists by plunging into the lake right off the dock.

Sherry and I lost touch as we grew up, although I would occasionally see her and her sister when I made a trip home. A few years ago she got in touch with me on-line and told me what she had been doing since we last had met. She said she had had a near death experience and was now channeling dead people.

Say what? I didn't know what to think. I knew about NDEs but was kind of leery about people who channel, although it fascinated me at the same time. I have had plenty of people who felt it necessary to tell me such things as I had a guide named Mary who was helping me. I still have no clue who Mary is or what that is about. So I admit, I was a bit skeptical.

So when she said she had written a book about her experiences, I knew I had to read it. When she describes her near-death experience, I was hooked. Especially when I read this passage.

"I could sense the difference in density between my current floating self and the slab of a body that was waiting on the gurney. I could sense that the muscles in that body were heavy, as if they were sandbags. The bones inside were even more compacted and even heavier, like rods made of lead. If I were going to act, I needed to act quickly. So, before over-thinking it, as if I were jumping off a dock into the cold waters of my native Lake Superior, as if I were filled with dread, yet committed to doing this brave and dangerous thing, I held my breath and hurled myself downward. I hoped it would not hurt. I tossed myself down, into the lady who was on the table. There was darkness. The NDE was over."

I could relate to that because I knew what it is like to jump from the dock into Lake Superior. Tales of Love and Dying is written as though the author and I were having a one-on-one conversation. It is filled with personal stories of how she has helped families deal with the grief of loved ones who have crossed over. She has also been involved in helping treasure hunters find artifacts.

Sherry and I met up in person in the summer of 2012 when we drove our RV to the UP for a visit to my hometown. I have to tell you that she is not at all “woo-woo” or flaky. She is very centered and exudes a sparkling, positive energy that spoke to my soul. She frequently expresses gratitude for life and the beauty of nature. She treated us to a fish dinner and just being around her lightened my own energy.

In the book, Sherry confirmed my own belief that after we die, there is no judgment. We may have a life review where we can experience how our actions affected others. It sounds like a scary thing, but she believes it is not necessarily something that happens for everyone. It may be a process that comes after we have evolved to a point where we can understand what we experience.

She states “If human life is really 'Love in physical forms, love in motion and action, plus love expressing itself,' then there is nothing that is not love. Whatever seemed to be un-love is recognized as a fiction that was devised on purpose, for some reason related to some kind of valuable development.” That particularly resonates with me.

I believe that we might make contracts with other spirits to act out a role that will provide someone else the experience they need to grow in their own spiritual journey. On this side of the veil, it might seem mean and uncaring, but when we can view it from the life review, we can see it for an act of love.

Sherry predicts that psychic abilities will soon become the new “normal.” “At some point in this lifetime, I believe you will easily turn on the switch that opens up many of those other worlds to you. Dimensions will overlap and interface in new and more interactive ways.

Although many times other psychics have told me that I am very psychic, I don't see myself that way. I might be fairly intuitive, but I would love to be able to touch even a small piece of the spirit world in a more dramatic way. It may happen before this incarnation ends. Time will tell.

She leaves us with this positive thought. “At the bottom of it all, remember that this life is part of a cosmic, dramatic, hilarious, grand love story. The Universe was designed to make it all happen for you.”

Tales of Love and Dying is available in Kindle format or as a paperback on Amazon

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